Schedule for solar project

Friday

Aug 17, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 17, 2012 at 5:17 PM

The town’s Alternative Energy Committee held a joint meeting with the School Committee’s alternative energy subcommittee on Monday to discuss the schedule for their proposed project to place solar arrays on the Middle High School roof and town landfill. The board is working with special counsel to publish a request for proposals (RFP), and could do so as soon as September.

Erin Dale

Solar panels could be on the way to Cohasset — and fast.

The town’s Alternative Energy Committee held a joint meeting with the School Committee’s alternative energy subcommittee on Monday to discuss the schedule for their proposed project to place solar arrays on the Middle High School roof and town landfill. The board is working with special counsel to publish a request for proposals (RFP), and could do so as soon as September.

The AEC hopes that solar energy will help the town realize cost savings on energy. There are also federal and state incentives available to provide energy at a discounted cost to municipalities that explore clean energy projects. AEC co-chair Tanya Bodell said the committee will continue pursuing the solar panel project as long as it’s “financially viable.” Publishing an RFP and evaluating bids that come in will help town officials determine that.

During Monday night’s meeting, it was clear the members of the energy board are serious about the project and getting it done in a timely manner.

Over the past few weeks, members of the AEC have presented their plans to the Board of Selectmen and School Committee. Both boards voted to split the cost of hiring legal counsel, agreeing to pay $10,500 each to hire Mark Kalpin of the firm Wilmer Hale. Kalpin is helping the committee through the RFP process as they prepare to attract solar power vendors to bid on the project.

The plans to proceed with the solar panel project were already approved by Annual Town Meeting on May 12. The project – to install solar voltaic arrays on the school roof and on the capped landfill at 81-91 Cedar Street – was presented in two separate warrant articles, and Town Meeting voted almost unanimously to approve both.

Getting town approval was the first of many steps, Bodell said at the time. Now, the committee is working steadily to stick to their action plan and accomplish both short-term and long-term goals.

To get the ball rolling, the AEC held a joint meeting with liaisons from the school committee: chair Jeanne Astino, member Linda Snowdale, and school business manager Dave DeGennaro. Acting Town Manager Michael Milanoski also attended Monday’s meeting to offer his assistance to the board, and answer questions about the procurement process.

“He’s been very helpful in the process, and will hopefully be the one the RFP bidders will respond to,” Bodell said of Milanoski.

The school board members present said that they are also committed to lending a hand. The school department as a whole “agreed we’re ready to go forward and want this process to happen,” said Astino.

One of the AEC’s goals this month is to “understand the [Mass. General Laws] chapter 30B procurement process.” The AEC is bound by Town Meeting to issue the RFP under this process, Bodell explained; chapter 30B was the process outlined in the Town Meeting articles.

The AEC is also discussing whether the project will operate with a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or Net Metering Credit Sales Agreement. These decisions could affect the type of solar power vendors the AEC hopes to attract to the project.

As AEC co-chair John Herth put it, “It’s complicated.”

Kalpin might be on hand at the next scheduled AEC meeting to help demystify the process, and help the board decide what, exactly, they want to include in the RFP. Time is of the essence, because the AEC plans to publish the RFP by Sept. 24; before that, they plan to meet twice and continue working through the process.

Once the RFP is published and interested vendors begin to respond, the installation development could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months, said Bodell.

The AEC discussed the importance of using a fair, transparent process when it comes to bids; part of that includes public communication. In addition to sharing their plans with local press and working to update the AEC website, the committee assigned liaisons to various town boards that they would like to involve in the process. Bodell said she would be the AEC representative to the Board of Selectmen; she and Milanoski also planned to meet with Town Assessor Mary Quill. Herth was assigned to the School Committee, while new member Andrew Muir was asked to meet with the Planning Board. Longtime member Marie Caristi-MacDonald will be the liaison to the Advisory Committee; former AEC member Andrew Willard serves on that board and is the liaison to the AEC. The other two AEC members, Jeffrey Patterson and Steve Wenner, were not present but could act as liaisons to other committees, including Capital Budget, on an as-needed basis.

Patterson is also working with Herth and the town’s new Chief Technology Officer, Rob Bonnell, to roll out an updated AEC website. The site hasn’t seen an update in years, said Herth.

Bodell said she would like the new website to have a place where interested solar vendors can register their information with the AEC and request a copy of the RFP. For now, they can email the board at AEC@cohassetma.org and include their company name, contact person, phone number, email address and company website.

So far, the AEC has a list of 24 potential vendors, but would like to have a confirmed bidder list in the near future.

“We hope to have the best and brightest coming out to bid on these projects,” said Bodell.

In addition to offering PDF copies online, and print copies at request, the committee will also publish the RFP in a central register and in the Mariner.

The committee plans to increase the amount of meetings from monthly to bi-monthly as they get closer to their RFP publication deadline. Next month, the AEC will meet twice: first on Thursday, Sept. 6, then again on Monday, Sept. 17. Both meetings will begin at 7 p.m.

The project is still in the early stages, but the AEC and school board are committed and “looking forward to getting it done,” Bodell said.

The town manager said that both boards are “doing a great job,” adding that he’s happy to help.

“I’m just here to help support that a citizen group that has been charged with moving forward with the solar panel RFP,” said Milanoski. “There’s a lot of expertise in the group, and I just want to help them work their way through the municipal process.”